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A review by miasantos
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
4.0
okay let's divide this in 2 parts:
“The stars dust gold leafing on his skin. And we are looking at each other, just looking, and I swear there are whole lifetimes lived in those small, shared moments.”
part 1: Mackenzi Lee's guide to charm and depth
this was beautiful. this book spoke to me in so many ways I can't even begin to explain. these characters have so so much depth to them, I felt their struggles and I wanted to protect more than anything.
Monty is my son. I will protect him with my whole and I will cut you if you dare to tell me he doesn't deserve all of this. his development is remarkable. he grows so much, from futile, childish, rich boy to independent, aware and caring and most of all, he learns how big the world is.
this is a story of self discovery, reading this book is no different from watching a coming of age movie or reading a coming of age sappy book (that i love btw, sign me up for both pls and thanks), it's a look into these 3 characters' souls and a journey through their eyes on how we learn a bit more everyday and see the world more and more with every step we take into growth.
Percy was such a great character to perceive racism through. How lightly he seemed to take every piece of insult or disdain but how deeply that hurt him nonetheless is so representative of so many people's experience every day. he can make you feel how it is to be discriminated against just by existing and I think it's important to use the means you have to shine awareness to this problem. the fact that I'm reading this book that is set decades and decades ago and could identify and translate so many of the problems it mentions into daily life situations really speaks for where we are as society and how much growth we still have ahead of us but that's a topic for another time, another moment.
not to mention it was a very well developed window into what it was to have an incurable decease in a time when anything unusual automatically meant you were insane/possessed/a bad christian. and Percy's journey to accepting his decease as a part of him was subtle and beautiful and all I wanted it to be.
and Felicity, my dearest Felicity. what a delight of a woman and what a beautiful portrait of a strong woman in a time everyone fought so much to make us look weak and to silence us. there's this moment and conversation she has with Monty about his feelings for Percy and it sums up her entire character for me, it's so representative of who she is as a person and what she strives to have and build for herself and the world she lives in. how she wishes she could change it for herself, her brother and every other minority out there. Felicity Montague, my heart is yours and I hope you achieved everything you proposed yourself to (but about that I'll be reading soon on her book).
now to the romance, yes I'm gonna talk about it. this was so sweet guys, the perfect example of a very complex "friends to lovers" (just like i like them). monty and percy sold it for me from page one, every and each of their interactions was so loaded with chemistry I could hardly stand their constant struggles with miscommunication. which leads me to part 2 of this review.
part 2: Mackenzi Lee's guide to unnecessary miscommunication
now listen, they're teens. they're young adults, they're young. they live in a time where talking about how you feel was risky, especially if what you feel is.. well.... gay. and while i understand that, 60% of this book is just our main couple fighting unnecessarily about unnecessary topics that wouldn't even be of relevance if someone had said this simple sentence, only once "what do you mean?" that's it. they fight, they don't further discuss anything, they stop talking to each other like 6 year old children when they quarrel and it's so unbelievably annoying and frustrating because there's so many interesting and relevant topics that they could be worrying about that are brushed over so we can have them not talk for a literal quarter of the book!! percy has epilepsia, they're gay, monty's abuse by his father, all the racism they're gonna face, all the backlash etc etc. they would've made for just an interesting plot as the one we got, except way less frustrating.
not to say Lee didn't touch on all this subjects, but in my opinion they could've all been approached with more detail had we only wasted less time with miscommunication and more communicating about how to fix or work all these bumps that our protagonists are gonna face while being on a relationship we all know they will end up on by the middle of the book (which makes that unnecessary page in the very end all the more unnecessary)
bottom line: remarkable and beautiful, frustrating at times but totally worth it in the end. 10/10 read this beauty!
“The stars dust gold leafing on his skin. And we are looking at each other, just looking, and I swear there are whole lifetimes lived in those small, shared moments.”
part 1: Mackenzi Lee's guide to charm and depth
this was beautiful. this book spoke to me in so many ways I can't even begin to explain. these characters have so so much depth to them, I felt their struggles and I wanted to protect more than anything.
Monty is my son. I will protect him with my whole and I will cut you if you dare to tell me he doesn't deserve all of this. his development is remarkable. he grows so much, from futile, childish, rich boy to independent, aware and caring and most of all, he learns how big the world is.
this is a story of self discovery, reading this book is no different from watching a coming of age movie or reading a coming of age sappy book (that i love btw, sign me up for both pls and thanks), it's a look into these 3 characters' souls and a journey through their eyes on how we learn a bit more everyday and see the world more and more with every step we take into growth.
Percy was such a great character to perceive racism through. How lightly he seemed to take every piece of insult or disdain but how deeply that hurt him nonetheless is so representative of so many people's experience every day. he can make you feel how it is to be discriminated against just by existing and I think it's important to use the means you have to shine awareness to this problem. the fact that I'm reading this book that is set decades and decades ago and could identify and translate so many of the problems it mentions into daily life situations really speaks for where we are as society and how much growth we still have ahead of us but that's a topic for another time, another moment.
not to mention it was a very well developed window into what it was to have an incurable decease in a time when anything unusual automatically meant you were insane/possessed/a bad christian. and Percy's journey to accepting his decease as a part of him was subtle and beautiful and all I wanted it to be.
and Felicity, my dearest Felicity. what a delight of a woman and what a beautiful portrait of a strong woman in a time everyone fought so much to make us look weak and to silence us. there's this moment and conversation she has with Monty about his feelings for Percy and it sums up her entire character for me, it's so representative of who she is as a person and what she strives to have and build for herself and the world she lives in. how she wishes she could change it for herself, her brother and every other minority out there. Felicity Montague, my heart is yours and I hope you achieved everything you proposed yourself to (but about that I'll be reading soon on her book).
now to the romance, yes I'm gonna talk about it. this was so sweet guys, the perfect example of a very complex "friends to lovers" (just like i like them). monty and percy sold it for me from page one, every and each of their interactions was so loaded with chemistry I could hardly stand their constant struggles with miscommunication. which leads me to part 2 of this review.
part 2: Mackenzi Lee's guide to unnecessary miscommunication
now listen, they're teens. they're young adults, they're young. they live in a time where talking about how you feel was risky, especially if what you feel is.. well.... gay. and while i understand that, 60% of this book is just our main couple fighting unnecessarily about unnecessary topics that wouldn't even be of relevance if someone had said this simple sentence, only once "what do you mean?" that's it. they fight, they don't further discuss anything, they stop talking to each other like 6 year old children when they quarrel and it's so unbelievably annoying and frustrating because there's so many interesting and relevant topics that they could be worrying about that are brushed over so we can have them not talk for a literal quarter of the book!! percy has epilepsia, they're gay, monty's abuse by his father, all the racism they're gonna face, all the backlash etc etc. they would've made for just an interesting plot as the one we got, except way less frustrating.
not to say Lee didn't touch on all this subjects, but in my opinion they could've all been approached with more detail had we only wasted less time with miscommunication and more communicating about how to fix or work all these bumps that our protagonists are gonna face while being on a relationship we all know they will end up on by the middle of the book (which makes that unnecessary page in the very end all the more unnecessary)
bottom line: remarkable and beautiful, frustrating at times but totally worth it in the end. 10/10 read this beauty!